I think that having one update stream makes everything fall in behind 
the the person who controls the update stream. The key word being 'behind'.

> One test any final candidate should be able to pass is
> to be savable to disk. and then to be component
> saveable to disk and component loadable (from a
> kernel?) getting back an equivalent if not identical
> image.
I definitely agree with this.

I also agree that this does not mean that every single change has to be 
put in a package and loaded in with a whole package.

My preferred option is to enable a batch of changes via a script, 
followed by a batch update of the packages as a publishing mechanism. 
Thus supporting your 'test' above.

I think many squeakers are so busy maintaining their images in a working 
state, just considering the packages that they have under their own 
control. I dont think that letting an experimental update stream loose 
on my working image is a good idea.

I think that one way of moving forward is that at every step of the 
image development process, to release, not only the fixes and updates to 
the base image, but also to provide readily available 'favourite images' 
with 'my favourite packages' loaded and tested ready to go.

Keith









		
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